By Erin Anderson for Texas Scorecard
Parents are fighting back. Last week, Texas’ McKinney School Board President was “served with a lawsuit for suppressing the free speech rights of citizens who disagree with her policies.” This board utilized police force to deny parents access to the board meetings.
“Civil rights attorney Paul Davis served Amy Dankel, president of McKinney Independent School District’s board of trustees, during the public comments portion of Tuesday night’s meeting.”
“‘Your outrageous display of tyranny in how you trampled on the rights of the public at the last meeting was shocking,’ he said. ‘I’ve never seen anything like it.’”
This article highlights the fact that Dankel admitted to this overreach as she said, “I admit I got into the gray area a little bit on that.” The blatant disregard for Constitutional rights by this board proves that our efforts to protect our children, as well as inform the parents, must be treated as urgent.
The board attempted to accomplish this tyrannical takeover through a “heavy police presence.”
“On several occasions, police officers have ejected citizens, at Dankel’s direction, for failing to observe her rules of decorum during public comments.”
“Davis said Tuesday that Dankel’s rules placed an unconstitutional restraint on First Amendment rights by disallowing signs, clapping, and comments.’”
“Fifteen McKinney Police Department vehicles were parked outside Tuesday’s meeting—three times the usual number.”
“All 15 McKinney PD officers assigned to McKinney ISD as school resource officers (SROs) seemed to be on the premises as well, along with the district’s Director of Safety and Security Robert Montgomery.”
“Some were surveilling the parking lot for Whitt and other citizens Dankel wanted to keep out of the board meeting.”
The effort of parents to maintain knowledge on the actions taking place in school board meetings, as well as speaking out on the varying infringements made towards them and their children’s education, is something BEST encourages.
